Albert Einstein once described insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result". While I would not call GE2 an exact duplicate of the first installment, I do not feel there was a large enough separation to take this new story in a direction to truly make it its own film. But, I will say that if you want to consider it an 'extension' of the first GE, then GE2 could seem just a hair better than a sad-sack attempt to get a money making sequel produced and out on the market.
**spoiler alert** This movie opens with a bunch of hack video-bloggers giving their reviews of Grave Encounters, one of which is Alex (Richard Harmon), a film student. Alex and his roommate Trevor (Dylan Playfair) come off as the typical hard partying sort, who appear to live their lives through shooting video clips via camera, cell phones, or recording video logs. The audience sees Alex is involved in filming a couple sequences for some horror films he is directing for film school, although he noticeably detached from the action on the sets.
Alex begins receiving emails suggesting that Grave Encounters was, in fact, "real" and he quickly becomes obsessed with the idea of making a film about what really happened. After getting in contact with Sean Rogerson's mom (Sean played Lance in the first film) and speaking with the Producer of the original movie, Jerry Hartfield, Alex, and 4 of his friends (Trevor, another cameraman, and 2 girls), proceed to up to the abandoned psychiatric hospital we saw in Grave Enoucnters.
The horrors that consumed the prior film crew are lying in wait for this new group of victims. Interestingly, Sean Rogerson is found to be still alive, but appears to be in a semi-psychotic state from the supernatural forces that lobotomized him, and that still control the hospital. When all is said done, Alex is the sole survivor with Grave Encounters 2 to his "credit".
What went right:- There was hardly any fluff and there was no "waiting around" like the prior film, to build any tension. Literally every moment seemed to be moving along either from action, or transition into action.
- The shots of the ghosts held a little longer in duration, which I liked. There was also introduction of a female child ghost from a children's ward that was not shown in the prior film. It added a little bit of creepiness.
- This film actually built on the "black magic" element that I had criticized from the prior film. Sean explains to Alex that Dr. Friedkin had opened a link or bridge between the real world and the supernatural world, which is why the spirits are roaming free and the hospital appears to be an entity, or a character, itself. I actually consider this element to be the most redeeming of the entire movie.
- The special effects overall were decent, but obviously nothing felt "new" as far as the asylum went, just revisited.
- There were a few good "jump" moments, were the action and scenes did create some minor scares.
What was not-so-great:
- Normally the jump cuts with the POV style films doesn't bother me, because they make the overall feel of the film appear more "authentic", if you will. But there were so many sequences in GE2, it felt like every few seconds was another jump cut, and it made the flow of this movie feel schizophrenic.
- Jennifer Parker (Leanne Lapp) was a good character and was developed as well as any of the characters in the film, but once inside the hospital she seemed to be whining and whimpering, constantly. Annoyingly so. I do not know if the actor was given the room to improvise this, or if the director had her in this state of distress - but in my opinion, it hurt the on screen product.
- Alex was not that likable as a lead character. I felt no attachment to him, so despite him driving the plot, I was not really concerned whether he lived or died. By contrast, I felt that Sean actually carried the plot more than Alex once it was discovered he was still alive.
- I get the idea that Sean had lost his mind; he had been stuck in this supernatural labyrinth for what was equated to nine years. But he kills Trevor on supposed orders from the "house", but then he is later sucked into a black hole that the house "creates" as Sean attempts to escape. Using Sean versus the "haunted house" in this manner seemed shaky at best. I could not tell if we were supposed to believe Sean was a victim of the supernatural forces, or if he was just crazy. The direction and on-screen product kind of came off like both elements were valid, but the uncertainty takes my liking of GE2 down a few notches.
Recommendation: If you watched Grave Encounters, then you should probably give this once over, since it expands the original story. As a standalone, however, this film would make little to no sense.
There are enough good elements (good looking ghost figures, decent moving story) to outweigh the cliche sequel moments. I would not be surprised if a Grave Encounters 3 pops up in the future.
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